Filmonic » Mark Millar

Wanted 2 to start filming in a few weeks

Liam — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:08:10 +0000

While at Comic-Con SHH spoke to Mark Miller, creator of Wanted, and he said that Wanted 2 would start filming in 2 months time.

While talking to Mark Millar for Kick-Ass he revealed to us that the script for Wanted 2 is complete and that they’re going to start shooting in eight weeks time.
Timur Bekmambetov is returning to direct while James McAvoy will again play Wesley Gibson.
Millar told us the sequel will revolve around the international group of assassins from issues 4 and 5 from Millar’s graphic novel.

No word on whether Angelina Jolie will be returning. Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov said last month that he’s found a way for her to return, despite being killed off at the end of the first film. We’ll have to wait for casting details over the upcoming weeks to see who will be back.

Mark Millar says Kick-Ass 2 is being plotted out

Liam — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:50:15 +0000

Kick-Ass has yet to get a release date, so far as we know, yet a sequel is already being planned out according to series creator Mark Miller, who spoke to Sci-Fi Wire.

Wanted made $350 million. So that was the thing that opened the doors. I didn’t expect that. For some reason I just assumed, “Oh, yeah, this will come out and do OK. If I get another movie at some point, wonderful.” But what happened very quickly was that several of the titles got picked up to be made into movies. Kick-Ass. War Heroes. I’m doing American Jesus. Kick-Ass 2 is already being plotted out. We’re planning it, because all the actors are quite young and we have to make it relatively quickly. So we’ll definitely do that inside the next 18 to 24 months.
Wanted made a fortune. It made a ton of money, and it was a property nobody had ever heard of. And I think Kick-Ass is going to be even bigger. Everybody who’s seen bits of it were rubbing their hands together with excitement because they think they’ve stumbled onto something very big. So I can’t complain. It’s not been a genius plan of mine or anything. It’s just been a bunch of happy accidents that led to this.

Kick-Ass isn’t your ordinary superhero movie, for a number of reasons. The first is that there are no actual powers involved, just normal people doing cool things, and secondly, no studio wanted to finance it due to the direction Matthew Vaughn wanted to take it in (ie. close to the source material). This meant Vaughn had go get financing himself and now has the task of shopping an extremely violent and bloody movie to distributors. They could have already found a distributor, we just haven’t heard anything yet.

Hopefully they work everything out soon and we get a trailer. After all, if the first one doesn’t look good and makes no money there’s no point making a sequel.

Mark Millar talks Wanted 2 writer

Liam — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:56:18 +0000

Last week we heard that Evan Spiliotopoulos had been brought on-board to write Wanted 2, however some people were a bit sceptical, and it wasn’t just because his name strikes fear into spell checkers worldwide. Evan’s credits include Pooh’s Heffalump Movie and upcoming Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. This doesn’t scream ‘cool action movie with excessive bullet time scenes’ to me. However Mark Millar, creator of the graphic novel and producer on the sequel, has told fans on his message board not to fear.

About Spiliotopoulos, he added that “This guy is supposed to be really good. He did a GREAT action script recently (on an unproduced movie) and that’s what got him this gig.”
“Never listen to any commentators as they never know anything about who’s coming back, etc. It’s just speculation and 99% of the time these guys don’t have access to the people who know. ‘Wanted 2′ is being made in a very tight circle at the moment,” Millar said.
“As a producer on the thing, I’m excited. I know who’s in it and after doing 342 million at the box office we have [serious] money to spend on everything from cast to crew to script.”

All writers have to start somewhere, and it could be the case that Evan Spiliotopoulos started doing the Disney stuff just to get work, and now he’s finally got the type of work he’s wanted all along.

Mark Millar’s epic Superman trilogy not happening anytime soon

Liam — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:22:26 +0000

Last year Mark Millar revealed his plans for a Lord of the Rings style 8 hour Superman trilogy that would ” start on Krypton, a thousand years ago and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers.” It sounded epic, and Millar said that he had a big name director interested in taking it on, however he recently revealed to MTV that it probably won’t be happening.

“Warner’s talked to us and a few other writer/director teams, but things seem to be in stasis right now,” wrote Millar. “As far as I understand, nothing is happening with Superman at the moment and so the director and I are just working on another project. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, no biggie.”
But the “Wanted” writer is already looking on the bright side.
“‘Kick-Ass’ taught me that creating your own stuff can be at least as much fun and you don’t have to answer to anyone,” he concluded. “It’s the future, baby.”

Last month a page appeared on Legendary Pictures website called Superman Unleashed, with the synopsis “Ramping up the action of its esteemed predecessor, the sequel to ‘Superman Returns’ promises to raise the stakes and take the audience to heights of action that no other superhero movie can achieve.” It was swiftly removed and this hinted that Warner Bros are aiming to do a sequel to Superman Returns, however nothing has been confirmed yet.

Matthew Vaughn directing American Jesus

Liam — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:37:00 +0000

Stardust and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn will reteam with comics creator Mark Millar for another comic book adaptation called American Jesus according to THR . Like with Kick-Ass, Vaughn will be making it independently so he can make the movie he wants, rather than having a studio force him to make the most commercial movie possible.

The comic revolves around a 12-year-old boy named Jodie Christianson who discovers he is the Messiah (as you do). Mark Millar describes the second volume below:

“I don’t want to spoil the ending of Chosen for anybody who hasn’t read that, but the second volume is about the adult Jesus in the modern day walking around in the world of Guantanamo Bay and conservative Republicans running Americans who don’t have that much in common with a 2000-year-old Judean idea of what Christianity is. It’s Jesus in the modern world, and they crucified him last time, so it’s kind of updating that for the modern world.”

This sounds quite interesting. It is usually the case that controvery = money (eg. The Da Vinci Code), so while it may not be your typical studio approved film, it will probably get some attention.

Mark Millar Talks About His Epic 8 Hour Superman Trilogy

Liam — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:44:46 +0000

We have heard Mark Millar talk about his Superman idea for a while now, which he is apparently working closely with a ‘big-Hollywood action director’ on. There is no word yet on whether Warner Bros are considering making his vision a reality, however after reading his interview with Empire I seriously hope they do.

“The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now.”
His idea is for an 8-hour saga, split into 3 films to be released a year apart, in a Lord of the Rings fashion.
“I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers.”

Superman Returns didn’t interest me one bit, so a reboot would be fine with me. I would especially like to see the scene Millar mention with Superman being the last being on earth. If done right it could be epic.

Kick-Ass Filmed In Sewage Factory

Liam — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:42:55 +0000

Filming on Matthew Vaughns’s Kick-Ass began on Saturday in London, and graphic novel writer Mark Millar spoke to Splash Page about his experience shooting in a sewage factory.

“I was expecting a lot of glamor, and now I smell of poo,” laughed Millar. “We were shooting from early this morning till [after midnight]… I’m too tired to have a shower, but I must have a shower.”
On set for Saturday’s shoot was Nicolas Cage, who plays Big Daddy, a former cop who trains his pre-pubescent daughter, “Hit-Girl” (Chloë Moretz), to become a lethal crime fighter. Millar added that despite Cage’s stature as a movie star and the, uh, crappy circumstances of the first day, “he never complained once during shooting. He’s such a good guy. Everybody loved him.”

I suppose Nicolas Cage is used to to knee deep in crap, especially after The Wicker Man.

Mark Millar Proposing ‘Lord of the Rings-like’ Superman Trilogy

Liam — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:08:51 +0000

Mark Millar recently spoke to G4 about his proposed Superman movie which has an unknown American director attached. We learned a week or two ago that Warner Bros were planning a Superman reboot and now Millar has pitched his idea to them in the hope it will get made. If the studio decides to go with his vision, they’d like to be shooting by next summer:

“I’ve had this plan for like 10 years for a big three-picture Superman thing, like a Lord of the Rings epic, starting over from scratch again with a seven-hour Superman story. One to be released each year.” Millar said.

You can watch the interview below!

Mark Millar Talks Wanted 2 And 3

Liam — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:52:40 +0000

From the day Wanted came out and made $55 million in it’s opening weekend Universal have been wanting a sequel. Screenwriters have been working on the script for some time now, and James McAvoy has already signed on for three films, so it is safe to say the movie will be happening. But what will it be about? The first movie was based on Mark Millar’s graphic novel, and there is no follow up to that. Well, Mark Millar spoke to Newsarama and explained what would be happening.

“What I will be doing is providing them with a very small amount of stuff for a story, and that will be used as a basic story that they can build from. It will be a small outline that can possibly be picked apart and not used – but it will be something exclusively for the second film, and no one will ever really see it.”
“…It will be some of the stuff that we didn’t utilize from the first book for the movie – like chapters three and four – there will be some stuff from that, so in the loosest sense it will be based on the book, but only very little.”

I’m up for more Wanted films so bring them on! I just wonder what will happen regarding Angelina Jolie, as the movie probably wouldn’t have made all that money if she wasn’t involved. Those who saw the film know what happened to her character, so the writers will have to either A) bring her back to life or B) bring her back via flashbacks. Alternatively, they could hire someone equally famous and bankable like….errr….

Update On Matthew Vaughn’s Ass

Liam — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:59:22 +0000

…Kick-Ass that is. (Sorry if I disappointed you with the title. Although I can confirm Matthew Vaugh’s ass is doing well under the circumstances)

Last week we learned that Superbad actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse would be playing an angry teen son of a mobster who tries to find uncover Kick-Ass’ identity. Now BreaktheFourthWall.com got a chance to talk to Mark Millar, who revealed more details about the movie.

…during the interview he revealed a little bit more about the Kick-Ass film that was not previously announced.
Including:
That the main character of Dave Lizewski HAS been cast. This happened last week and he is an “unknown actor in America”
Shooting is going to start 3 weeks from now in London, Canada (double for New York) then back to London again.

You can listen to the full audio interview by clicking here!